Town of Manchester, Vermont
Housing Task Force Minutes
February 13, 2023
12:00 to 1:30 PM
Task Force Attendees: Phil Peterson, Kath James, Kevin Nielsen, John Burnham, Judd Hoffman, Gordon Black, Victoria Silsby, Ed Morrow, Melanie Johnson, Seth Bongartz; Absent: Cat Bryars
Staff Attendees: Leslie Perra (Interim Town Manager).
Peterson called the meeting to order at 12:05 p.m.
Opening Remarks
Peterson thanked everyone for attending this inaugural meeting of the Housing Task Force (HTF). He told the audience that this was an organizational meeting, and that audience questions/comments would be accepted at the end of the meeting.
Peterson stated the importance of the housing issue in Manchester, mentioning that it is the single most critical issue the Town faces. He gave background on how the HTF was born out of the Housing Forum that Reps. Bongartz and James, and Peterson co-sponsored on October 26, 2022. He then talked about what we learned about the importance to residents and employers from the attendance at the Forum and the results of the MBA survey that John Burnham sent to member businesses.
Peterson discussed HTF accountability to the Planning Commission, the importance of regular meetings and their frequency. He recommended that meetings should take place at least monthly, with perhaps more frequency in the first few months of HTF activity. He restated that while the timing of this first meeting was unusual (noon), it was the best option given that our hard-working State representatives had to be in Montpelier for the rest of the week.
He stated the ultimate purpose of the HTF:
Using the various opportunities Manchester enjoys with respect to:
a. land ownership
b. relationships with those current owners
c. zoning ordinance
d. support infrastructure
e. federal, state, and local assistance programs
we will create attractive, practical housing that is affordable and serves Vermonters who want to live in Manchester.
Peterson stated that there had been some skepticism about the lack of clear outcomes that came from the predecessor Depot St. group. Outcomes were not definitive for a variety of reasons but that is water under the bridge. The HTF has the opportunity to start with clean slate, considering all possible property opportunities, how they align with Town needs, and what it will take to develop selected parcels to demonstrate success.
HTF Member Introductions
Each member introduced themselves and gave observations:
Kath James (KJ)– She is ranking member of the Legislature’s General and Housing Committee and Assistant Majority Leader
Kevin Nielsen (KN) – He is a retired contractor and has lived in the Northshire his entire life. Housing has been a problem for over 25 years. Housing shortage on a personal level can cause anguish and even mental health issues.
John Burnham (JB) - He represents 130 members of the MBA
Judd Hoffman (JH) – He graduated from BBA (class of ’08) and feels he represents lots of young families that struggle to find affordable housing
Victoria Silsby (VS) – She resides in Dorset in a home she purchased when her first child was young
Gordon Black (GB) – He is the Town’s municipal assessor and economic coordinator. 90% of the people who work in Manchester can’t afford to live here.
Ed Morrow (EM) – He started Northshire Bookstore in 1976. Noted that housing was a problem as early as the 1980s.
Melanie Johnson (MJ) – She was part of he Depot St. group. Noted that Vermont Country Store employees cannot afford housing in Manchester
Seth Bongartz (SB) – He is ranking member of the Legislature’s Committee on Environment and Energy. Since 2020, he has focused on housing. He noted that Vermont needs 40,000 housing units by 2030.
Governance
Peterson talked about HTF governance, specifically:
· Using Roberts Rules of Order to run meetings and to make decisions for the HTF
· Meetings – dates/times, meeting agendas and minutes to be set by the HTF. Peterson recommended meetings more often than once per month at the outset, with monthly meetings after a certain point. Meetings must be publicly warned and agendas posted 48 hours in advance.
· Need to elect officers – chair, vice chair, secretary/clerk
Task Force Mission
Peterson discussed the need for a mission statement as a grounding tool for the HTF without getting hung up on guiding documents for their own sake. He offered the following as an example:
To find, procure, research, design and make shovel-ready housing that is affordable to a large segment of population of Vermonters who want to live, work and play in Manchester with a focus on multi-family housing opportunities in the Town Core and surrounding permissible areas, but not excluding consideration of single-and two-family detached homes, mobile home, and missing middle homes not included in the multi-family definition.
The HTF will finalize a statement that suits its own purposes. As well, the HTF will consider what “affordable” means in the context of their work.
Resource Possibilities
The group discussed several possible resources in research, analysis and funding. Gordon Black is a rich resource to have on the HTF due to his knowledge of property availability and ownership. The state has expertise at VHFA, VHCB, and DHCD, as well as a variety of programs to encourage landlord improvements, ADU construction, and developer assistance like the “Missing Middle” program. Finally, Bill Colvin’s staff at BCRC has offered to assist with research around detailed local housing needs.
Discussion
EM - The permitting process is messy and needs simplifying.
JB – HTF should shorten Peterson’s draft mission statement to make it more succinct and specific to multi-family housing. VS agreed.
VS – Workers in Manchester often have to travel over an hour to get to work.
KJ – There are lots of programs available from then Feds and the state. We should take advantage of existing programs in Manchester.
GB – Water and sewer must be expanded to facilitate housing, Some employers in Manchester are buying old motels to house employees; not an ideal choice.
EM – Must take advantage of public capital: private capital alone cannot solve the housing problem. Utility and construction costs have skyrocketed requiring creativity in procuring building funds
SB – Manchester is going to have to accept housing that looks different than what we are used to. It can, however, look great.
EM – There is a bias towards multi-family housing. If zoning allows, however, there is also an opportunity for enhancing ADU construction. We need better data around property types.
Peterson – Current zoning does facilitate ADUs.
JB – Short-term: ADUs have potential. Long-term: larger apartment buildings have potential
EM – We don’t know how many seasonal homes there are in Manchester and the impact they have on housing availability.
Peterson – The Planning Commission has contracted Kennedy Advisors to study the economic impact of short-term rentals (STR) in Town. It will not include the impact of any quality-of-life issues (e.g. noise) or “transition” issues. Transition issues include the disposition of the STR market in the case that regulations were placed on STRs to limit or otherwise change their availability. An example is how many current STRs would transition to long-term leases. Such data would need to be collected through a different study in which interviews and other psychometric techniques would need to be used.
VS – Would BCRC be able to update housing-related data in the studies we have? We would need to prioritize the data points HTF wanted updated.
Peterson – Yes, BCRC could update those data (for a cost, of course).
JB – We have lots of service industry employees. We can’t however, attract them due to the cost or living here. Affordability is a key issue.
KN – Can Habitat for Humanity be a participant in the process? Habitat’s primary concern in building is the human factor.
KJ – Reminded us that we need to hear from the audience.
SB – Seth described his bill H68 before the legislature that would remove State and municipal regulatory barriers for fair zoning and housing affordability.
Peterson – Asked SB to confirm that based on Manchester’s current zoning ordinance, H68 would not have much effect beyond what Manchester already required. Seth concurred saying that Manchester’s ordinance already focuses on density in the downtown area and allows multi-family building in almost all residential districts.
GB – Gordon reviewed the various properties in Town that might be appropriate for the HTF to consider for multi-family housing opportunities:
· Town-owned
o Old airport – 60 acres
o Depot St – Awaiting responses to RFP on ideas for development
· Privately owned
o Property (old Zoltec property between VCS and Northshire on Main St.) – 6 acres; owned by Shelburne Capital Partners LLC
o Property behind SVMC Northshire Campus – 5.5 acres
o Driving range on Main St – 16 acres; access to water and sewer
o Cone Rd. - 6 acres; currently has older apartment buildings; owned by Hauben; access to water and sewer
o Drunsic: 20 units, mix of duplex and single-family homes
o Inn at Willow Pond – About 10 acres; current owners would like to build large numbers of multi-family units. Problem is that the property is not zoned for multi-family as it sits in MU3. This means that the parcel can be used only for adaptive reuse for multi-family without any change in foundational footprint implying perhaps as many as 90 units. Since no access to water and sewer, septic systems and water wells would need to be re-configured for optimal use. Peterson has been communicating with owner’s agent and has given contact information to GB for future communications. For now, this parcel is a much less likely candidate for affordable multi-family housing.
Officer Elections
Elections were held for chair, vice chair and secretary.
Chair – Judd Hoffman was nominated by GB; seconded by KJ; elected
Vice Chair – Melanie Johnson was nominated by SB; seconded by VS; elected
Secretary – Victoria Slisby was nominated by MJ; seconded by GB; elected
Audience Comments/Questions
Peterson asked for a motion to extend the meeting to 1:45. Moved by KJ, seconded by VS.
· An audience member related her personal story about the difficulty of finding housing
· Ms. Luce – As the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity, Ms. Luce offered that Habitat would be willing and eager to be part of contributing to housing solutions.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:39 pm.
The next two meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, March 8 and March 22, both at 5:30 in Town Hall. There will be a zoom option for those who cannot attend in person.